Trivia and Quotes

Quotes (27)

Rainn: Scotland is the Canada of England!

Rainn(on how he manages to play Dwight on The Office): There's like ten minutes when it's like, 'Okay, wait, who is this guy again?' And then, you know, I just put on the calculator watch and the glasses, and just be all, you know, inappropriate. And then it just works out fine.

Rainn(on what he did during the WGA Strike): I did a little bit of picketing. I played a lot with my three-and-a-half-year-old son, which was good... And I went to Israel and I did some writing. And I worked on my backhand with my Zen tennis coach.

Rainn(on getting back to work on The Office after the WGA Strike): You know, it's been a huge love fest. It's like our other family. It's been really, really fun. And we've had a blast these first two weeks. It is great to see everyone again and batteries were definitely recharged.

Rainn(on fans disappointment that his character Arthur on Six Feet Under didn't stay longer): Well, you know, the character was doing so well for me that I actually got cast in a little pilot called The Office. So they had to write me out of the show for that. And then I did the movie, Sahara, so I had to leave the country. That was why they wrote me out. I would have stayed there but I had other work calling me, places to go, people to see, things to do. You know how it is (laughs).

Rainn(on his role on Six Feet Under): Playing Arthur, I'm sorry to sound sappy, but it was a gift from the Gods. I've always been a working actor and I've always made my living in acting for a long time. I'd been auditioning for that show, I knew the casting directors pretty well. Arthur was the fifth character I auditioned for on the show. They kept bringing me in for parts and not finding anything for me. I actually wasn't supposed to audition for the part of Arthur, I was auditioning for one of the gay choir members from David's choir. Then I read about that part and went, 'Oh my God, that's perfect for me.' And I asked permission to read for it right then and there. I went in and auditioned without any preparation whatsoever and I think that probably helped me because I didn't overthink it. It was an amazing experience. Those shows are so well written and so well acted they're like little one-hour movies. So in a way I got to do like twelve or thirteen little one-hour movies as a very interesting and complex character. Everyone was really cool. Alan Ball, all the artists behind that show, were just so supportive and great and that really helped launch my career. I'm really grateful to the show for that.

Rainn(on the greatest challenge working on The Office): Working with Steve Carell because he's such a dick. Can I say that? No, I'm totally kidding. The great challenge working on this show for me is wearing polyester all day long and having the worst haircut known to man at the top of my head and sitting under fluorescent lights. That is America, people. Polyester, bad haircuts, under fluorescent lights.

Rainn(on his favorite episode of The Office): There's so many. Another strength of our show – as you can tell I'm a big fan – is you can have really quiet episodes, really simple episodes. And you can have ridiculous farce episodes like "The Fire" episode, running into walls and throwing water jugs around and singing crazily and jumping around like a lunatic. That's really fun. To date my favorite one is the one called "Office Olympics" where Michael's buying a condo. The rest of the office staff, in a gang led by Jim, decide to create a mini-Olympics in the office with ridiculous games with staplers and boxes of paper and paper clips. Michael and Dwight got to inspect his condo and everyone gets something to do. The romance between Pam and Jim and the friendship between Dwight and Michael happens as well. There's a really sweet ending to it. It's just a really interesting tapestry of ensemble in that episode.

Trivia (21)

Rainn has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. In 2008 and 2007, he was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for The Office.

Rainn won 2 SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for The Office in 2007 and 2008. He also won for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Six Feet Under in 2003.

He used to be an acting teacher.

Rainn was one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive, 2006. He is found in the "Sexy Men with Glasses" section.